--- title: Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend Pays Residents $1,884 description: That's enough to buy a trip to somewhere warm canonical: https://time.com/3453788/alaska-oil-dividend/ author: Victor Luckerson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-02T11:00:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:31:58.265Z article:section: History og:title: Everyone who lives in Alaska is getting $1,884. Here's why: og:description: That's enough to buy a trip to somewhere warm og:url: https://time.com/3453788/alaska-oil-dividend/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcce510c60d551478/6986a673810bbb8384c93bac/oil.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: North slope oil rush Alaska og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Everyone who lives in Alaska is getting $1,884. Here's why: twitter:description: That's enough to buy a trip to somewhere warm twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcce510c60d551478/6986a673810bbb8384c93bac/oil.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Everyone Who Lives in Alaska Is Getting $1,884 Today ## Video: Every Alaskan Receives Nearly $1900 From Oil Wealth Savings Account [Watch (HLS stream): Every Alaskan Receives Nearly $1900 From Oil Wealth Savings Account](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ecz95VCQ.m3u8) (1:22)  _Published 2014-09-18. Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend is giving a record amount of $1,884 to Alaskans as a part of the state’s annual citizen payout._ by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Oct 2, 2014 11:00 AM UTC  The North slope oil rush in Alaska, circa 1969 The North slope oil rush in Alaska, circa 1969Ralph Crane&—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Oct 2, 2014 11:00 AM UTC If polar bears and [_Snow Dogs_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow%5FDogs) weren’t enough to make you want to move to Alaska, consider this: You can get paid thousands of dollars a year just for living there. Today, Oct. 2, almost every permanent resident of Alaska — even babies — will get paid $1,884 as a dividend from the state’s Alaska Permanent Fund, a government fund that invests proceeds generated from the state’s oil reserves to ensure future wealth for the state. When the first dividend checks were issued to residents in 1980, TIME predicted that the windfall would be long-lasting: --- > “” --- Today the Alaska Permanent Fund is valued above [$50 billion](http://gov.alaska.gov/parnell/press-room/full-press-release.html?pr=6966), and the dividend paid to residents this week will total $1.1 billion. And for the individual who’s squirreled away his dividend payment each year since the program launched in 1980? He’s made a cool $37,000 just for being loyal to the state. **_Read more about the origins of the Alaska Permanent Fund in TIME’s archives:_** [Alaska Bonanza](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924050,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3453788/alaska-oil-dividend/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3453788/alaska-oil-dividend/"},"headline":"Why Everyone Who Lives in Alaska Is Getting $1,884 Today","datePublished":"2014-10-02T11:00:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:31:58.265Z","description":"That's enough to buy a trip to somewhere warmer","url":"https://time.com/3453788/alaska-oil-dividend/","keywords":["Economy","Alaska","Environment","Oil"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcce510c60d551478/6986a673810bbb8384c93bac/oil.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcce510c60d551478/6986a673810bbb8384c93bac/oil.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"North slope oil rush Alaska","caption":"North slope oil rush Alaska","creditText":"Ralph Crane&—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/economy/","name":"Economy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3453788/alaska-oil-dividend/","name":"Why Everyone Who Lives in Alaska Is Getting $1,884 Today"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Every Alaskan Receives Nearly $1900 From Oil Wealth Savings Account","description":"Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend is giving a record amount of $1,884 to Alaskans as a part of the state’s annual citizen payout.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ecz95VCQ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-18T17:16:30.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ecz95VCQ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3453788/alaska-oil-dividend/","duration":"PT1M22S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3453788/alaska-oil-dividend/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```